Media Afternoon: Friday 13th May 2011

To celebrate the launch of the 'Plymouth in Bloom' competition, and to report on the progress made in our 1940s themed school garden, Plymouth City Council arranged a media event involving photographers from the Herald, and also from the local free paper, the Plympton, Plymstock & Ivybridge News. Another freelance photographer was also present to take a range of photos of the children posing with the many artefacts and set pieces within the garden. Unfortunately, ITV South West didn't come along, although they were expected.

Councillor Michael Leaves was also present, as was Roland Sloggett from Plymouth City Museum. We also invited Helen Penberthy from Babcock Marine, Plymouth, who was accompanied by the 4 apprentices who manufactured our German fighter parts. Carol Wride from Plymouth Park Services also came along, as she was keen to see the progress made in the garden ahead of the Plymouth in Bloom competition. Plymouth city council also produced a press release on the day of the event, and this can be viewed by following the following link; this may also be in the Herald at some point in the near future, along with a selection of the photographs taken: http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/newsreleases?newsid=259571

The following photographs represent what displays /artefacts /set pieces were on show in the garden on Friday afternoon. Images of the children who took part in the media event will be included in a future Blog post, once permission has been sought for the photographs to be used. 

Anderson Shelter Restoration: Day 23

Today we worked on the entrance to the shelter. We had to remove the soil at the front of the shelter doorway to a depth of 1 foot to create a step. With this step in place, there will still be a 2-foot drop to the floor of the shelter. This job took several hours due to the ground being mostly stone, and we even had to remove a concrete block which once supported a fence post. Luckily, we managed to narrowly avoid a submerged electric cable, which was about a foot down, and will eventually be covered up again!

The next step will be to line the outside edges of the hole with sand bags to create a wall in front of the shelter doorway. We will also line the step with weed control matting to prevent anything growing.

Exposed electric cable. . .

Once the step had been dug, we lowered the lower-centre panel into its final resting place, creating the correctly-sized doorway at the front of the shelter. A wooden beam was cut to size, and bolted in place to clamp the 3 front panels together. 

The next job will be to cover the roof of the shelter with sandbags at the point where the front and rear panels meet the roof sections to stop soil / moisture getting into the shelter where the panels join. The step will also be lined with sandbag 'walls'.

Anderson Shelter Restoration: Day 18-22

After the successful trial-fitting of the six side panels of the Anderson shelter indoors, it  was time to place the base into the 3-foot deep hole we had dug in the garden. Unfortunately, the hole required widening before the base would fit in properly, and two additional full-depth slots were required to accommodate the front panels. This took 2 days to complete. During this time, we also cut the 3 rear panels to size, bolted them together and painted them.

Once the base was correctly positioned in the hole, we adjusted it to ensure it was level, using a spirit level.

When we were happy that all was straight, we began adding the panels. We began with the two rear panels, followed by the two front panels, and finally added the two middle panels. These were bolted into place using a mixture of original bolts and nuts, and modern ones to replace the missing ones. The square washers had to be cut from steel sheet, as these are no-longer available to purchase.

With the roof of the shelter erected, we trial-fitted the front panels before calling it a night on the Wednesday; it was 10.45pm by the time we had finished!

The next day, we adjusted and fitted the front panels securely, and fitted the rear panels in place, again checking all was level. Finally, we began to fill the sides of the hole flush with the level of the ground surrounding the shelter. 

The next step will be to dig out the front of the shelter to form a step into the doorway. This will be 1 foot deep, and will extend to the full width of the shelter. This 'porch' area will then be lined with sandbags, as it would've been during the war. Once this has been done, the roof of the shelter will be covered with about 9-12 inches of soil to completely conceal it under the ground.

Messerschmitt Crashes Into Garden!

On Thursday 5th May, Barry Tippett from Babcock Marine, Plymouth, arrived with two of his apprentices to deliver the aircraft parts they had been working on for the past few months. The aircraft parts, representing a German Messerschmitt ME-109 fighter plane, are to form the 'Battle of Britain' set piece in the garden. The 3 parts include a tail section measuring roughly 2 metres, a wing tip also measuring a 2 metres and the spinner/propeller blades from the front of the aircraft. 

The parts have all been manufactured from aluminium, and fastened using rivets, also added in their original positions. The parts have all been constructed to the original specifications, and look extremely life-like. The edges of each panel have been made to look like they have been ripped off during a crash; the apprentices have even added details such as bullet holes where the aircraft has been 'shot down'!

We were delighted with the aircraft sections the apprentices have produced for us, and we have placed them in the garden alongside the potting shed (A.R.P. Post). Eventually the parts will be spray painted to the correct colour scheme of the original German fighter, as it would've appeared during the Battle of Britain. The pilot will eventually be suspended over the garden wearing his parachute; he will be our entry in the scarecrow competition in this year's 'Plymouth in Bloom' competition.

Bullet holes in the tail section represent where the aircraft has been shot at during a dog fight.

This will not be the final resting place for the aircraft parts; once the garden is more established, they will be placed somewhere more appropriate, so they don't detract from the 'A.R.P. Post' feature.

The 4 apprentices who fabricated the aircraft parts came along to our media afternoon in the garden to see their work displayed; they were delighted with the results of all their hard work, as were we.